Tiger Woods said that humility and dogged determination would be key to victory at the US Open this weekend over the exacting Olympic Club Lake Course. The 36-year-old world superstar was the joint leader going into Saturday's third round having "plodded along" to a one-under par total of 139.
Alongside him will be his old Ryder Cup partner Jim Furyk and another crusty US veteran in the shape of David Toms. They were the only players under par and two strokes clear of a quartet consisting of 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland, rising Belgian player Nicolas Colsaerts, and US qualifiers Michael Thompson and John Peterson.
Woods is in a familiar position. Nine times previously he has been in the lead or tied for the lead at the halfway stage of a major and only once has he failed to close the deal. But times have changed since Pebble Beach four years ago when Woods won the last of his 14 major titles.
Marital strife, crippling injuries and swing machinations have stripped him of the paramount status he hitherto enjoyed in golf, and he says that only hard grind will do if he is to once again close the gap on Jack Nicklaus's alltime major record of 18. "This tournament you just have to keep plodding along," he said. "This is a different tournament. "You have to stay patient, got to stay in the present, and you're just playing for pars.
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